The Shift
by Frets
Summary: The beggining to two lifetimes worth of adventure. This shift is where the world begins.


**1**

Ah, Childhood. So nostalgic, full of memories you only actually remember faintly. Link tried to remember those memories of his earlier childhood. Now thirteen years of age, Link remained at the top of the best and most promising of all the swordsmen in Termina. And yet, for some reason, he found his childhood, full of bliss, and nostalgia a better chapter of his life than the current one. Life had been great when he was smaller. He played with small wooden swords every day, with no thought of competition. He spent time with his friends. And now he barely ever saw Malon. Her red hair flowing with the same eloquence as her long farm dress. She was always spending her time with the animals held within her fathers farm, learning how to feed them, and at the same time learning the only skill she would need for the rest of her life.

Though, Link did spend a very vast amount of his time with his best friend and the second best swordsman in Clocktown, Hogarth. Hogarth had brown hair, like many of the others residents of Clocktown, along with bigger, bulkier arms, which matched his heavier self perfectly. He wore the same ragged cloth that most Termanians wore, along with variant jewels most likely handed out by traveling merchants, or passed on from generation to generation. Every single day, after running the Termina outskirts for exactly 2 hours and thirty minutes (with a stop watch equipped to see how fast he was going) Hogarth immediately made his way to Link's and his own "fighting school for youngster's". Hogarth always left his own sword (a practice sword, of course, for safety purposes) in the establishment, though every morning when he arrived Link's sword was not to be found anywhere. He knew why. Link practiced during the night. It was the only explanation for why he was never at home during weeknights, why his sword was always with him, and why he was the best swordsman in the young adult class. Link was swift. He was much less powerful than Hogarth, but much much more fast. He had learned to dodge any attack thrown at him, while Hogarth had learned to endure them, and Link had learned to hit the vitals of his enemy, so he could defeat them, and therefore lessen his chance to be hit while dodging any attacks that could make him slower, a vicious circle. Hogarth however learned the art of torture. He intimidated his enemies by enduring their moves, and then hit less vital spots first, and immobilized them, and then he would take in the air, and breath in the fresh smell, and the fresh smell of victory. What it felt like to be a winner. None the less, due to his competitive blood, he could not stand being second best. If he was going to be second, he might as well have been last. So forth, every morning Hogarth tried to get faster, so enduring his "target's" attacks was not the only option.

Link wasn't competitive. He didn't care that he was the best. All Link cared about was getting that feeling back. That feeling of nostalgia that he had when he was just a younger child, before he had even joined the fighting school. He wanted to feel that again. Because it was a feeling that everything was going to be all right forever. That he could stay with his loved ones, and things would never change. But wasn't that what everyone wanted? To feel something. But it is the fact that we feel so many things that makes us all so human, all so capable of human emotion, so ultra aware of our surroundings. A sixth sense. Link knew that. He knew that better than anybody. So he would continue on his life, every day, repeating the same activities, till he grew older, and became a merchant of some sort, most likely traveling to different towns, begging for money, food and living quarters. But that wasn't what he wanted. No. He wanted a different life, with adventure around every corner.

"Call it a childhood dream." he would say to everyone who knew of this alternate life.

And so they did. Not as positively as him, in fact they laughed at him, mocked him, but they did recognize his dream. And how to make a dream come true? That was the question he constantly asked himself. Being the best sword fighter in a whole providence, a whole land, was the first step, indefinitely. Though, as every cliché goes, Link needed a damsel in distress. He once thought, "What about Malon. Could she be the one that, someday, got into so much trouble that she needed a hero to quickly rescue her from the evil?" No. She was to much of a fighter, to willful. She would beat her captor before Link could rescue her. He knew that. He needed a real damsel. A princess.

"But enough of dreams!" Link shouted out, as he walked into the fighting school, with sword in hand.

"What's that?" Hogarth yelled out, as he was putting his protective gear on, getting ready for their first fight of the morning.

"You know you don't need those damn pads, they just slow you down." Link smiled, as he put a tunic over the heavy chain mail.

"Exactly. I need to get faster, Link. One of these days I'm not going to put my pads on, and I'm going to dodge all your attacks." Hogarth started doing jumping jacks, getting used to the extra weight acquired from the cement block padding's.

The paddings were optional, and were in most cases a bad idea anyways, so forth Hogarth was the only one who had used them in a while.

"No, one day, you're going to take off those pads, and you're going to trip and stumble because you keep losing your balance, seeing as though usually you have an extra ninety pounds attached to you by your shoulders."

With that, Link picked up his sword. "Now draw that chipped wooden fake, and prepare to be taught yet another lesson!" He said, melodramatically.

And so they fought. It was not a short fight, like most would be, Not a fight for others to be entertained by. It was a fight that took several hours to complete, because it didn't end. Not until Hogarth was fully exhausted, and Link made the final blow,

putting his enemy on the floor, sweating in his own defeat. This fight was not much different than the previous ones. Link hit Hogarth as hard as he possibly could in the most vital spots possible. Sympathy was not something Link had much of, especially for second place. Hogarth emitted his usual war calls, and felt the pain, did not submit. He threw his heaviest swings at Link, with his eyes closed. He had learned that when you can't see your other senses become stronger, and because link was so fast, hearing him was much more efficient than seeing him. He swung his heaviest throws with his sword, and felt to see if he had hit anything or not. A two hundred and ten degree swing was more likely to catch him, and yet for some reason, he never did. Though he didn't know it, it was because link was ducking under his swings, taking advantage of Hogarth's decided blindness. He lead him into a wall, which Hogarth hit, and then, figuring it was Link, started to jab. When he opened his eyes, he saw the wall, and all he could think was "End."

Link hit the bottom of Hogarth's shoulder joint with the sharp of his wooden blade, the the back of his knees, and finished it off with a quick hit on the flat of his back with the flat of his sword, and ended the game, with Hogarth on his knees, and a wooden blade to his neck.

"I guess I'm still not good enough." Hogarth sighed.

"C'mon, We need to get the day started off. Tonight is Friday night, Malon will be waiting." Link held his hand out, and Hogarth grabbed it, and pulled himself up.

The two went through the day, training others, and doing the work they were expected to do by the fighting schools owners. Just like any other day, but the difference was that today was Friday. Every week, on Friday, Malon met Link and Hogarth under the Clock at the center of Clocktown, and they all catch up with eachother, and finally bond like they did when they were children. But no matter what they did the day that they all three were together, Link couldn't find that nostalgia. That feeling that he had as a child. It troubled him. He felt he was losing himself in the deep vast hole of darkness that filled the world. Where was the realm of light? Where was the positive part of living? More questions that Link couldn't answer.

But finally the end of the day. Link and Hogarth made their way to the clocktower, waiting for Malon. They rested at the base of the towering clock, just as it chimed six.

She walked through the gate. "Link!" She screamed.

Link looked over, as she came running down to him from the entrance gate that lead to the Termina outskirts. She had a basket of goodies, and her dress was flowing with her red fiery hair.

Malon.

Every time Link heard her name he though "puppy love" because that was all he thought it was. but sometimes he thought there was something deeper than that. Sometimes he thought that Malon may just be that one that he wanted to spend all his time with. Hogarth, however, knew that he absolutely loved Malon. He knew that he wanted her around him all the time, and that he wanted to be with her. Touch her, feel her, kiss her. In fact, he had, at plenty of different occasions, dosed off or been put in a daze over her. but for some reason with which he didn't know, Malon ignored him completely.

Hogarth pointed to himself, as Malon walked over to Link's side. "What about me?"

"Oh, hi Hogarth." She said with much less excitement. Hogarth looked away, feeling bad for himself.

Link looked up to Malon. "What's going on?"

She looked up at the sky. The weather was great. The wind was blowing a cool breeze, and the sun wasn't to hot. Everyone in the town thought Malon was a simple farmhand, but unbeknownst to all of them, she was actually quite wise of life, ever since her mother died of a disease that ran in her blood. There was actually still a possibility that Malon could get that disease, and that had always haunted her.

She noticed Link was still waiting for an aswer. She saw his face, and recalled meeting him when she was seven. Ever since then she had had a crush on Link, and she could never muster up the courage to tell him. As he started getting puzzled as to why she was staring him she came up with a quick answer.

"I brought cookies that i made. We can eat them while we talk about what we've all been up to." She held up her basket.

Hogarth jumped up and quickly grabbed his share of cookies. The three talked about what they had been up to. For Malon, life had been uneventful, and boring. Link shared with her his victory over Hogarth earlier that day, and they continued to talk, and laugh, and play, and wish that this day would never end. But eventually the sun retreated behind the hills, and the day did end. The three finally recognized that their wish was not fulfilled, and they retreated as well, back to their homes.

*

When Malon walked in the door of her farmhouse, she immediately went upstairs to her room. It was perfectly clean, and there was not one speck of dust. The walls were blank, and the sheets were blank. Her closet had only her clothes in it, and there was nothing else there. It was more an empty space than a room. She sat down on her bed, and began daydreaming of what it would be like if she was brave enough to tell Link how she felt. They would lay on her bed, holding hands. Trading body heat, and eventually a gentle touch of one set of lips to the other, then another, then another, until eventually they were making out. Her bed was so soft. Like a cloud, or a fistful of pillow fluff. And Malon began to think how she could have such a clean room, and such a tidy bed, and yet be doing something so dirty. She awoke from her dream, and noticed the fault in her daydream. She figured Link and herself to young. But maybe someday she would be grown up enough to tell Link how she felt, and maybe someday he would feel the same way. So Malon prepared for bed, and then prepared for the next day. She took hot bath, brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, and changed into her night gown. Then, after selecting what to wear the next day, she got into her bed, and pulled the covers over herself, and as she drifted off to sleep she thought to herself, someday would be the day that she takes courage and uses it to the fullest extent.

*

Link walked in the door of his small hut. Ah, home, and the sweet smell that came along with it. Link had been leaving by himself, without parents, for as long as he could remember. At first he had met people who who would take him in, one at a time as he grew up, until he was seven years of age, and all the people of Clocktown pitched in and got him he a broken down, small stone hut. The roof was made of metal tin that was found in the outskirts of Termina, and the stone was left over from the construction workers. There were cracks in the roof, and the stone was chipped. It was cold, and it was crappy, but it was a place to live. And that was the only thing that Link did do in there. He would sleep in the stone hut, but besides that he was always out doing something important to him. So Link put his sword down next to the door, and changed into his sleeping cap and tunic, then went to sleep, hoping for dreams of Malon, so he could awake and continue to ponder his mind of her.

*

As Hogarth got home he thought about his future. What was he going to be? He would most likely end up working for his father in the construction business. But even as a child he knew that wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want to be a construction worker. He wanted to be a fighter. Someone who could fight his way past monsters, and help other people. Maybe an assassin. Anything would be better than running around Clocktown, carrying big pieces of wood around all day. Link trained at night. But Hogarth didn't know where. It could have been anywhere that Link was out training. So Hogarth decided to find him, and train with him. Eventually he would find out how Link was so good. Hogarth sneaked out of his house, so his parents could not find him, and then immediately exited Termina with sword in hand.

It didn't take long to find Link. Hogarth only had to follow the trail of decapitated monsters, and eventually there was Link, slicing through the monsters, his back turned to Hogarth. Hogarth silently walked up to him, and surprised him, thinking he would turn around and rejoice with him, but instead when Hogarth tapped his shoulder, Link turned around and put his sword to Hogarth's neck. It shown in the moonlight, colors separating out the blade like a rainbow of colors. There was no wood about it, this sword was pure crystal.


End file.
